I've been asking myself this question when I see all the looting going on in New Orleans in the wake of the flooding. I'm not talking about things like food, water, and medicine that you need to survive, I'm talking bigger ticket items. I honestly can't say for sure that I wouldn't. Knowing that insurance would probably pay for all of it and that there was a very small chance I'd be punished or caught, I think that the temptation and the shock of the disaster might drive me to just break into a store and help myself to expensive clothes, jewelry, electronics, and guns.
I'm guessing that the only thing that would keep me from doing that would either be other looters with bigger guns, some sense of civic unity after such a horrible disaster, or my belief in God. Not that I'm saying you need to believe in God to have morality, but for me, a faith in God does play a large part of my moral backbone. Then again, after a tragedy like Katrina, my faith in God might be a bit shaky to say the least.
I'm not trying to condemn or condone the looting per se, but I'm honestly curious what some people would do in the kind of situation that New Orleans is in. Thanks much.